Journaling database changes using minimized journal entries that may be output in human-readable form

ABSTRACT

A minimized journaling mechanism stores minimized journal data in a format that allows for display and outputting the journal data in human-readable form. When a change to a record occurs, instead of writing only the changed bytes, all of the bytes in each field that changed are written to the journal, along with all of the bytes in each field selected to be always journaled. A default object is created with default data in all of the fields. When the journal entry needs to be output in human-readable form, the default object is read, and the minimized journal entry is then overlaid on the default object. The result is an object that contains default data in all non-selected fields that were not changed, with the journal data in all fields and that did change and in all fields that were selected to always be journaled.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

1. Technical Field

This invention generally relates to computer systems, and morespecifically relates to journaling changes in a database.

2. Background Art

Database systems have been developed that allow a computer to store alarge amount of information in a way that allows a user to search forand retrieve specific information in the database. For example, aninsurance company may have a database that includes all of its policyholders and their current account information, including paymenthistory, premium amount, policy number, policy type, exclusions tocoverage, etc. A database system allows the insurance company toretrieve the account information for a single policy holder among thethousands and perhaps millions of policy holders in its database.

Database systems typically include a database manager that assures theintegrity of the database as changes to the database are made. Thedatabase manager typically records changes to a database in a journal.The journal allows changes to the database to be rolled back if needed.In addition, a journal may be used to replicate a database by applyingthe journaled changes to a remote database in the same order thejournaled changes were made to the original database.

Most database managers known in the art record all bytes in a recordinto a log when a change is made to the record, including bytes in therecord that do not change. Because recording data that has not changedtakes valuable space and time in a database journal, a newer conceptknown as minimized data journaling was introduced. With a minimized datajournal, only the changed bytes of a record are recorded without respectto field boundaries, which assumes that the bytes in the record that arenot represented in the journal entry did not change. A minimized datajournal is generally likely to achieve significantly better performancethan a full data journal. Note, however, that this increase inperformance comes at a usability cost.

Because a journal entry in a minimized data journal only includes thebytes that changed, the resulting journal entry is in a compressedformat that may no longer be easily read, understood, and recognized bya human or auditing program. While this is not a concern in somesettings, it may be a significant concern in other settings that requireauditing, debugging, or human viewing of database changes. To perform anaudit, a human auditor or auditing program typically compares the fullimage of the record before the change to a full image of the recordafter the change. The human auditor or auditing program thus expects tosee the full record in performing the audit. Without a full recordimage, sensing the identity of the record (e.g., John Doe's bank account#12345), lining up the matching fields among the set of data collected,and recognizing field boundaries is made very difficult and does notconstitute a friendly human interface. Because most minimized datajournal entries do not contain the full record, nor even full fields,the resulting encoded data is not human-readable. For the purposesherein, the term “human-readable” means a format that does not portrayan internal encoded representation of the changes, but rather arepresentation of the changes in full record layout with no partiallyrepresented fields. The data represented in this manner allows a humanauditor or auditing program to easily discern the change that took placeand is displayed in a manner consistent with using full journal data.For this reason, minimized data journals have generally not been used inenvironments that require auditing. As a result, environments thatrequire auditing or occasional debugging based on the journal have notbenefited from the performance increase provided by minimized datajournals. Without a way to provide minimized journal data that may beoutput in human-readable form, the computer industry will be left withthe undesirable choice between higher performance systems that useminimized journal data but cannot be easily audited, or lowerperformance systems that use full journal data that can be audited.Neither of these choices is desirable when both high performance andauditing is required.

DISCLOSURE OF INVENTION

According to the preferred embodiments, a minimized journaling mechanismstores minimized journal data in a format that allows for display andoutputting the journal data in human-readable form that may be easilyread and recognized by an auditor. When a change to a record occurs,instead of writing only the changed bytes, all of the bytes in eachfield that changed are written to the journal, along with all of thebytes in each field selected to be always journaled. Fields in neitherof these categories are not captured. A default object is created withdefault data in all of the fields. When the journal entry needs to beoutput in human-readable form, the default object is read, and theminimized journal entry is then overlaid on the default object. Theresult is an object that contains default data in all non-selectedfields that were not changed, with the journal data in all fields andthat did change and in all fields that were selected to always bejournaled. In this manner the preferred embodiments provide the benefitsof minimized journal data while still providing for the ability to auditfrom the journal.

The foregoing and other features and advantages of the invention will beapparent from the following more particular description of preferredembodiments of the invention, as illustrated in the accompanyingdrawings.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF DRAWINGS

The preferred embodiments of the present invention will hereinafter bedescribed in conjunction with the appended drawings, where likedesignations denote like elements, and:

FIG. 1 is a block diagram of an apparatus in accordance with thepreferred embodiments;

FIG. 2 is a block diagram showing details of a record in a sample priorart database table;

FIG. 3 is a statement in structured query language (SQL) for updatingthe record shown in FIG. 2;

FIG. 4 is a block diagram of the record in FIG. 2 after applying theupdate statement in FIG. 3;

FIG. 5 is a flow diagram of a prior art method for generating andstoring full journal entries;

FIG. 6 is a sample display showing the record of FIGS. 2 and 4 inhuman-readable form;

FIG. 7 is a flow diagram of a prior art method for generating andstoring minimized journal entries;

FIG. 8 is a block diagram of a prior art minimized journal entry thatrepresents the changes to the record in FIG. 2 after applying the updatestatement in FIG. 3;

FIG. 9 shows that neither the before or after representation of therecord is human-readable using the prior art minimized journal entries;

FIG. 10 is a block diagram of a minimized journal entry that is eligibleto become human-readable in accordance with the preferred embodiments;

FIG. 11 is a block diagram of a default object for the database table200 in FIG. 2 in accordance with the preferred embodiments;

FIG. 12 is a sample display of the records of FIGS. 2 and 4 inhuman-readable form using the minimized journal data in FIG. 10 inaccordance with the preferred embodiments;

FIG. 13 is a flow diagram of a method for generating and storingminimized journal data in accordance with the preferred embodiments; and

FIG. 14 is a flow diagram of a method for outputting minimized journaldata in human-readable form in accordance with the preferredembodiments.

BEST MODE FOR CARRYING OUT THE INVENTION

The preferred embodiments provide minimized journal data inhuman-readable form. This is accomplished by writing all data in eachfield that was changed, and in each field that is specifically selectedfor journaling, to the journal. A default object with default values ineach field is also saved to the journal. When a journal entry needs tobe output in human-readable form, the corresponding default object isread, the minimized journal entry is read, and the data from theminimized journal entry is overlaid on the default object. The result isa record that contains all the original fields, with data in all fieldsthat changed and in all fields that were selected for journaling, and anindication of default data in the fields that did not change and werenot selected for journaling. This record is human-readable, even thoughit contains minimized journal data. The preferred embodiments thusprovide the best of both worlds: significantly improved performance dueto minimizing journal data collection while providing the ability toaudit the journal data due to the ability to output the minimizedjournal data in a human-readable form.

Referring to FIG. 1, a computer system 100 is one suitableimplementation of an apparatus in accordance with the preferredembodiments of the invention. Computer system 100 is an IBM eServeriSeries computer system. However, those skilled in the art willappreciate that the mechanisms and apparatus of the present inventionapply equally to any computer system, regardless of whether the computersystem is a complicated multi-user computing apparatus, a single userworkstation, or an embedded control system. As shown in FIG. 1, computersystem 100 comprises one or more processors 110, a main memory 120, amass storage interface 130, a display interface 140, and a networkinterface 150. These system components are interconnected through theuse of a system bus 160. Mass storage interface 130 is used to connectmass storage devices, such as a direct access storage device 155, tocomputer system 100. One specific type of direct access storage device155 is a readable and writable CD RW drive, which may store data to andread data from a CD RW 195.

Main memory 120 in accordance with the preferred embodiments containsdata 121, an operating system 122, a database 123, a minimizedjournaling mechanism 125, and a journal 126. Data 121 represents anydata that serves as input to or output from any program in computersystem 100. Operating system 122 is a multitasking operating systemknown in the industry as i5/OS; however, those skilled in the art willappreciate that the spirit and scope of the present invention is notlimited to any one operating system. Database 123 is any suitabledatabase, whether currently known or developed in the future. Database123 comprises one or more records 124 that contain fields of data.Minimized journaling mechanism 125 suitably generates journal entries inthe journal 126. The individual entries in FIG. 1 are shown as 128A, . .. , 128N. The minimized journaling mechanism 125 stores the journalentries 128A, . . . , 128N in the journal 126 in a format that allowsthe journal entries to be later output in a human-readable form. This ispossible by also storing in the journal 126 a default object 129 foreach object instance with entries stored in the journal 126. By storinga default object and the minimized journal entries in accordance withthe preferred embodiments, a human-readable form may be output byoverlaying the default object with the data in a minimized journal entryfor the object. The result is an output that shows actual data in allfields that changed and in all fields that were selected for journaling,with default data in all non-selected fields that did not change. Inthis manner, the minimized journaling mechanism 125 succeeds inproviding the significant performance benefits of minimized journal datawhile still allowing the journal to be easily audited.

Computer system 100 utilizes well known virtual addressing mechanismsthat allow the programs of computer system 100 to behave as if they onlyhave access to a large, single storage entity instead of access tomultiple, smaller storage entities such as main memory 120 and DASDdevice 155. Therefore, while data 121, operating system 122, database123, minimized journaling mechanism 125, and journal 126 are shown toreside in main memory 120, those skilled in the art will recognize thatthese items are not necessarily all completely contained in main memory120 at the same time. It should also be noted that the term “memory” isused herein generically to refer to the entire virtual memory ofcomputer system 100, and may include the virtual memory of othercomputer systems coupled to computer system 100.

Processor 110 may be constructed from one or more microprocessors and/orintegrated circuits. Processor 110 executes program instructions storedin main memory 120. Main memory 120 stores programs and data thatprocessor 110 may access. When computer system 100 starts up, processor110 initially executes the program instructions that make up operatingsystem 122. Operating system 122 is a sophisticated program that managesthe resources of computer system 100. Some of these resources areprocessor 110, main memory 120, mass storage interface 130, displayinterface 140, network interface 150, and system bus 160.

Although computer system 100 is shown to contain only a single processorand a single system bus, those skilled in the art will appreciate thatthe present invention may be practiced using a computer system that hasmultiple processors and/or multiple buses. In addition, the interfacesthat are used in the preferred embodiments each include separate, fullyprogrammed microprocessors that are used to off-load compute-intensiveprocessing from processor 110. However, those skilled in the art willappreciate that the present invention applies equally to computersystems that simply use I/O adapters to perform similar functions.

Display interface 140 is used to directly connect one or more displays165 to computer system 100. These displays 165, which may benon-intelligent (i.e., dumb) terminals or fully programmableworkstations, are used to allow system administrators and users tocommunicate with computer system 100. Note, however, that while displayinterface 140 is provided to support communication with one or moredisplays 165, computer system 100 does not necessarily require a display165, because all needed interaction with users and other processes mayoccur via network interface 150.

Network interface 150 is used to connect other computer systems and/orworkstations (e.g., 175 in FIG. 1) to computer system 100 across anetwork 170. The present invention applies equally no matter howcomputer system 100 may be connected to other computer systems and/orworkstations, regardless of whether the network connection 170 is madeusing present-day analog and/or digital techniques or via somenetworking mechanism of the future. In addition, many different networkprotocols can be used to implement a network. These protocols arespecialized computer programs that allow computers to communicate acrossnetwork 170. TCP/IP (Transmission Control Protocol/Internet Protocol) isan example of a suitable network protocol.

At this point, it is important to note that while the present inventionhas been and will continue to be described in the context of a fullyfunctional computer system, those skilled in the art will appreciatethat the present invention is capable of being distributed as a programproduct in a variety of forms, and that the present invention appliesequally regardless of the particular type of computer-readable signalbearing media used to actually carry out the distribution. Examples ofsuitable computer-readable signal bearing media include: recordable typemedia such as floppy disks and CD RW (e.g., 195 of FIG. 1), andtransmission type media such as digital and analog communications links.Note that the preferred signal bearing media is tangible.

A simple example is now presented to compare and contrast the prior artmethods for journaling and the method of the preferred embodiments,which is preferably performed by the minimized journaling mechanism 125in FIG. 1. Referring to FIG. 2, a sample database table 200 includesmultiple records as shown. The second record is shown as record 210below the database table 200. Table 200 includes five fields or columns,namely: ProdID, which is a primary key based on a product identifier;Description, which describes the item corresponding to the record;Quantity, which shows the number of the items in inventory; Cost, whichshows the cost in U.S. dollars for the item; and Product_Picture, whichcontains a digital image of the item. These fields and their values forRecord 2 are shown in FIG. 2.

We now assume an update operation needs to be performed on Record 2 inFIG. 2. A sample update operation is shown in FIG. 3, and represents anSQL statement that reduces the quantity of the item by one. This updatecould be used, for example, when one of the items is sold. Note thewhere clause in FIG. 3 specifies that ProdID=1001, which corresponds torecord 210 shown in FIG. 2, because ProdID is a primary (i.e., unique)key in the table 200. After the update statement in FIG. 3 is executed,record 210 is as shown in FIG. 4, with the Quantity field reduced byone. While an update statement is shown in FIG. 3, this is shown as onespecific example of a known way to make a change to a database table.The preferred embodiments expressly extend to any suitable way forchanging data in a database table, whether currently known or developedin the future.

There are different ways in the art for the change in Record 2 from FIG.2 to FIG. 4 caused by executing the update statement in FIG. 3 to bejournaled. The first method considered is full data journaling,represented by method 500 in FIG. 5. In a full data journaling context,all data in a record is written to the journal. Thus, a full journalentry for the record in FIG. 4 will include all of the data shown inFIG. 4, even though only the Quantity field changed. A full journalentry is first generated that includes all of the fields and data shownin FIG. 4 (step 510). The full journal entry is then stored in thejournal (step 520). The problem with the prior art method for fulljournaling shown in FIG. 5 is that all of the data shown in FIG. 4 isstored to the journal, including the 50K JPEG data for the picture ofthe product. Needless to say, storing the product picture in eachjournal entry for the table 200 results in huge storage requirements forthe journal, and significantly reduces the performance of the journal.An additional performance penalty is evident when considering the use ofthe journal entries in a replication environment. In such environments,the journal entry data is sent across a communication channel to asecondary system and used to update a replica instance of the databasetables. The increased overhead within the communication channel isapparent when considering the transmission of the 50K JPEG data time andtime again when only the Quantity field is modified.

One advantage of the prior art full journaling shown in method 500 inFIG. 5 is that the journal may be audited because the journal entriesmay be easily output in human-readable form. FIG. 6 shows output fromthe journal before the update operation in FIG. 3 is executed and afterthe update operation in FIG. 3 is executed. Because the full journaldata is in human-readable form, it can be audited. However, this abilityto audit the data comes at the expense of significant performancepenalties that arise from having to store all fields in a record eachtime any of the fields are changed.

Due to the significant performance penalty that results from fulljournaling, a different method was developed to only write the bytes ina record that changed to the journal. This is known in the art asminimized data journaling, which is done without regard to fieldboundaries. Referring to FIG. 7, a prior art method 700 for minimizeddata journaling begins by generating a minimized journal entry that onlyincludes the bytes in the record that changed (step 710). The minimizedjournal entry may then be stored in the journal (step 720). One sampleimplementation for a minimized journal entry for the record in FIG. 2after applying the update in FIG. 3 is shown in FIG. 8. The format ofknown minimized journal entries may be complicated by the fact that theinternal data representation of the journal entry differs from theexternal representation for some field types, and because of thedifferent methods of handling variable length data within the databaserepresentation. The prior art example journal entry 810 in FIG. 8 issimplified for the purpose of illustration. The minimized journal entry810 includes a record number field, in addition to a set of data foreach changed section of the record including a change offset field, alength of change field, and a changed data field. The record numberfield identifies the record number in the database table that waschanged. The change offset field assumes 8 byte integer values for theProdID and Quantity fields and a 20 byte Description field, so the byteoffset from the beginning of the record to the changed byte is8+20+7=35. The changed quantity is from decimal 1105 (hex 451) todecimal 1104 (hex 450). Because only one byte changed, only the lastbyte (hex 50) is recorded in the minimized journal entry. By writingonly those bytes that changed to the journal entry, the minimizedjournal mechanism of the prior art achieves a significant improvement injournal performance and space consumption because the non-changed data,including the 50K JPEG data, need not be written to the journal. Note,however, that this improvement in performance comes at the cost of notbeing able to audit the journal. As shown in FIG. 9, the journal datacannot be easily output in human-readable form. Humans expect to seefull fields and readily recognize database field boundaries. As aresult, it is very difficult or impossible to audit the journal whereminimized journal data is stored, especially if the journal beinganalyzed resides on a different machine than the one housing theoriginal database table.

The preferred embodiments solve the problem of not being able to auditminimized journal data while still providing nearly all of theadvantages of minimized data journaling. In the preferred embodiments, aminimized journal entry 1010 shown in FIG. 10 is created. We assume theuser or system has selected the ProdID field to be always journaled. Auser would likely select this field such that the identity of the recordis easily recognizable by auditors. As a result, the journal entry 1010includes a first portion 1020 that records the full 8 bytes in theProdID field, and a second portion 1030 that records the full 8 bytes inthe Quantity field, because the Quantity field changed. Instead of onlystoring the bytes that changed, there are two types of information thatis stored in the journal entry: 1) all of the data in each field thathad any changes; and 2) all of the data in each field that is selectedto always be journaled. In table 200 in FIG. 2, the ProdID field is akey field. We assume a user or system specifies that the ProdID fieldalways be journaled so an auditor may easily recognize the record. As aresult, the minimized journal entry 1010 of the preferred embodimentsincludes the data for the ProdID field at 1020 because it is a selectedfield that is always journaled, and also includes all of the data in theQuantity field at 1030 because it changed. Note that the minimizedjournal entry 1010 shown in FIG. 10 includes eight bytes of data for theselected ProdID field, and includes eight bytes of data for the entirechanged field Quantity, which requires slightly more storage than theprior art minimized journal entry 810 shown in FIG. 8. This smalladdition of data, however, allows the journal entry 1010 to be output inhuman-readable form that supports auditing of the journal.

When the minimized journal entry 1010 is stored to the journal, theminimized journal mechanism (e.g., 125 in FIG. 1) checks to see if thejournal already contains the current default object for the table. Ifnot, the current default object is stored in the journal. Note that adefault object is not needed for each individual entry in the journal,but only for each object instance with entries stored in the journal.Thus, for all the records in database table 200 shown in FIG. 2, asingle default object 1100 as shown in FIG. 11 is stored in the journal.Thus, if a journal contains 25,000 journal entries from four differentdatabase tables, only four corresponding default objects will need to bestored in the journal.

As shown in FIG. 11, the default object 1100 includes default data inall of the fields. Default data may be any suitable bit pattern. In thepreferred embodiments, the default data includes both a bit patternreferred to as a “null bitmap” to indicate which of the default fieldsare null, and a default value for each of the non-null fields. The nullbitmap in FIG. 11 has zeroes in the first four bits and a one in thefifth bit, representing that the Product Picture field is null. Thedefault data is represented in FIG. 11 as dashes. When the minimizedjournal entry 1010 needs to be output in human-readable form, thedefault object 1100 is read, and the journal data is then overlaid on acopy of the default object. The result is an object with all of thefields, as shown in FIG. 12, with the fields that changed containingdata, while the fields that did not change are represented with defaultdata as well as an identifier shown in FIG. 12 as a “collected fieldsbitmap” to indicate the default data is representative of a field forwhich data was not collected. The five bits in the collected fieldsbitmap in FIG. 12 correspond to the five fields in the database table inFIG. 2, with a one bit indicating the corresponding field was collectedand a zero bit indicating the corresponding field was not collected. Thecollected fields bitmap 12 shown in FIG. 12 has a value of 10100, whichindicates that the first and third fields contain valid data, while thesecond, fourth and fifth fields were neither changed nor identified ascritical fields that always get collected. This is an easy and effectiveway to distinguish between true default data and actual data that mayhave the same value as the default data. An additional structure shownin FIG. 12 is the “changed fields bitmap” is similarly used as an easyand effective way to determine which fields were changed by the databaseoperation resulting in the journal entry. The one bit indicates acorresponding field was changed and a zero bit indicates thecorresponding field did not change. The dashes in FIG. 12 represent thefields that still contain default data, i.e., that were not changed.Note that the minimized journal entry 1010 shown in FIG. 10 may beoutput in human-readable form, as shown in FIG. 12. As a result, theminimized journal of the preferred embodiments provide almost all of theadvantages of minimized data journaling in the prior art while stillallowing auditing.

Referring to FIG. 13, a method 1300 in accordance with the preferredembodiments shows the steps that the minimized journaling mechanism(e.g., 125 in FIG. 1) performs when writing to the journal. First, aminimized journal entry is created that includes all fields that arespecified to be always journaled and all data from any field thatchanged (step 1310). Bitmaps (e.g., the collected fields bitmap and thechanged fields bitmap in FIG. 12) are also constructed at this time andincluded in the entry to indicate which fields of the record werejournaled and which fields of the record were changed. If the journaldoes not already have a default entry for the object that corresponds tothe journal entry (step 1320=NO), a default entry for the object iscreated with default data, and the default entry is stored in thejournal (step 1330). The minimized journal entry is then stored in thejournal (step 1340). Note that if the journal already contains a defaultentry for the object corresponding to the journal entry (step 1320=YES),the minimized journal entry may be stored in the journal (step 1340)without the creation of a new default entry.

Method 1300 in FIG. 13 shows storing all selected fields and all changedfields to the minimized journal entry. Thus, a user may specify whichfields are always stored in the journal, while the rest of the fieldsare eligible for minimization. Of course, in an alternative embodiment,some fields could be always stored based on their characteristics. Forexample, key fields could be automatically always journaled inaccordance with the preferred embodiments.

Referring to FIG. 14, a method 1400 in accordance with the preferredembodiments shows the steps that the minimized journaling mechanism(e.g., 125 in FIG. 1) performs when outputting a minimized journal entryin human-readable form. Method 1400 begins when a journal entry onbehalf of object A needs to be output from the journal in human-readableform (step 1410). The default entry for Object A is read from thejournal (step 1420). The minimized journal entry for Object A is readfrom the journal (step 1430). The minimized journal entry for Object Ais then overlaid onto the default entry for Object A (step 1440).Overlaying the minimized journal entry onto the default entry for ObjectA leaves default data in all fields that are not affected by theminimized journal entry, while writing data in the minimized journalentry to all fields that were selected to always be journaled and to allchanged fields. The result is a full database record with default datain all non-selected fields that did not change, and actual data in theselected fields and in the fields that did change, as shown in FIG. 12.As a result, the minimized journal entry may now be output inhuman-readable form (step 1450). As method 1400 shows, the minimizedjournal entry is not human-readable until it is overlaid on a defaultobject that corresponds to the minimized journal entry. The resultingobject is human-readable, and may then be output.

The preferred embodiments provide significant advantages over the priorart. By storing only slightly more data in the journal than the priorart does during minimized data journaling, almost all of the performancebenefits of minimized data journaling are realized in the preferredembodiments, while still providing an output in human-readable form thatallows for auditing the journal. The result is the best of bothworlds—high performance from minimizing the data stored, while stillallowing auditing.

Not all users of the stored journal information will need full auditingand human recognizable capabilities. One of the advantages of thisapproach is that both uses are readily available. That is, just becausethe record change was captured in a minimized entry representation doesnot mandate that it be re-expanded into a human-readable representationat the time it is displayed to a user. The preferred embodimentsdisclose storing a minimized journal entry in the journal in a firstformat, and outputting the minimized journal entry in either this firstinternal format or human-readable form in a second format. Providingthese two different formats provides great flexibility. For example, thefirst format could be used to replicate the database to a remote systemthereby assuring reduced transmission volumes, while the secondhuman-readable format can be used for auditing or debugging purposes.The two different formats allow the minimized journal mechanism of thepreferred embodiments to serve both the human auditor and themachine-driven replay for replication with equal ease without mandatingthat two different instances be captured and stored.

One advantage of the preferred embodiments is that the journal alonecontains all of the necessary data to display the human-readable form ofthe minimized journal entry. That is, the related database table beingaudited or debugged need not even exist on the system used by theauditor to view the journal entries. This is accomplished by storing thedefault objects in the journal as well. This makes the journalindependently able to display the journal entries. As a consequence, ajournal maybe saved to media or sent remotely to a secondary system withthe assurance that the journal contains the complete audit record. Thisis especially attractive in an auditing environment where the journalcan be easily archived or transferred to a second system for analysis.

One skilled in the art will appreciate that many variations are possiblewithin the scope of the present invention. Thus, while the invention hasbeen particularly shown and described with reference to preferredembodiments thereof, it will be understood by those skilled in the artthat these and other changes in form and details may be made thereinwithout departing from the spirit and scope of the invention.

1. A computer-implemented method for storing a change to a record in adatabase in an entry in a journal and outputting the entry in thejournal in human-readable form, the method comprising the steps of:generating the entry, the entry including all data from all fields inthe record that changed, the entry including all data from any selectedfields that are always to be journaled, wherein the selected fields areselected by a user by specifying a type, wherein all fields of thespecified type are included in the selected fields, the entry excludingall data from all non-selected fields in the record that did not change;storing the entry in the journal; determining whether a default objectcorresponding to the entry is already stored in the journal, wherein thedefault object includes default data for each field in the object; ifthe default object corresponding to the entry is not already stored inthe journal, storing the default object corresponding to the entry inthe journal; outputting the entry in human-readable form by performingthe steps of: reading the default object; reading the entry; overlayingthe data from the entry onto the default object; outputting the overlaidobject; and displaying the human-readable form of the overlaid object toa user, wherein data for all selected fields and all fields that changedare displayed to the user, and wherein the default data is representedas data that did not change in the display of the human-readable form.